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The lemmings started leaping from the stage of Seattle's all-ages RKCNDY the minute Art Alexakis hit the first note of Everclear's opening song, "So Much For the Afterglow." Halfway through the second song, "Electra Made Me Blind," he decided he'd had enough.
\\Perhaps he was mindful of the stage diving incident that took place at their Boston show last month, when three uninvited members of the New England Patriots injured one woman so badly she had to have surgery. "If you stage dive, they'll shut us down," he glowered. "Now do you want to listen to music, or do you want to fucking stage dive?" The near-unanimous decision was for music.
\\Two years ago, it seemed like Everclear played Seattle every other weekend. Their last RKCNDY appearance brought in about 25 listeners by Alexakis' own count. In the time since, though, they've struck radio gold, appeared on the Letterman show and sold over three million copies of their 1995 release, "Sparkle and Fade."
\\At this point, Everclear's live show owes almost as much to the two "Unplugged"-style sets Alexakis played in Seattle earlier this year as their roots in grunge and punk rock. Not only did Everclear play a blistering, albeit too short, collection of punched-up pop songs from their three albums, they performed a three-song sit-down acoustic interlude. Not everyone was ready for the change.
\\"James Taylor?" Alexakis shot back at an accusatory audience member. "You got a problem with that? James Taylor did enough heroin to kill Seattle!" Alexakis then eased through "Strawberry," "Heartspark Dollarsign" and "My Sexual Life," songs, respectively, about addiction, interracial relations and coming-of-age in a small town.
\\The last of these is told from a male perspective, but it takes into account a young girl's wants and needs, sentiments not often acknowledged in Everclear's male-dominated style of alternative rock. That's what sets Alexakis' songs apart. They're defiant and drawn from the darker side of life -- often the singer's own life -- but there's also a sense of fairness to them. Alexakis is as compassionate as he is angry.
\\The rest of the set, which started late because middle act Our Lady Peace was a half hour behind, roared with guttural primal energy. Alexakis, drummer Greg Eklund and bassist Craig Montoya, played with their usually sloppy abandon and new guitarist Steve Birch fit right in. What Everclear lacked in precision they made up for with passion, eventually violating the 11 p.m. club curfew by ripping through two encores after the set-closing "Heroin Girl."
\\Their only afterglow was the